Pokemon XY: Rewritten
by jamesharold13
Summary: Set during XY/XYZ season. Misty and Brock travel to the Kalos region some time after Ash and are joined by an old acquaintance. Soon, a seemingly harmless journey turns into spiral of mysteries, all centered around said acquaintance. (Genre should be Adventure/drama but is not tagged as such as the drama begins to pick up much later)
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is a story that's based off of another fanfiction that I had been writing quite a while back. I never managed to finish that story, mainly because the plot didn't interest me, let alone anyone else, and so I abandoned it. Now that I'm not a 13 year-old writing fanfics for fun, I realized the reason for the plot not being able to engage me was simply that I didn't inject enough originality into my story, not to mention the main plot of the fanfiction itself was basically playing through the entirety of Pokémon Platinum. Anyway, that's enough rambling. Here's Pokémon XY: Rewritten! (Title is not final). The original story is still on my profile for those interested, but please remember that almost all the plot points in it are scrapped completely(as of October 13th the orignal story has been deleted)**

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**Misty**

I reached Pallet town, panting. I heard Ash was finally back from his journey to Unova and I was desperate to meet him. Mainly because that _asshole_ hadn't even given me a _call_ when he returned from Sinnoh and then left to Unova 2 weeks after that.  
In case you were wondering, I didn't _run_ all the way to Pallet town. I took a bus to Viridian city and ran from there. A considerably shorter distance. That aside, I quickly ran to Ash's house. I rang the doorbell and waited excitedly, expecting him to open the door. However, I was met by Delia instead.

"Misty? My goodness, it's been so long!" she exclaimed and pulled me into a warm embrace.

"It certainly has, Ms. Ketchum," I chuckled, "I heard Ash was back in town, so I came to visit!"

"Oh dear… Misty, I'm so sorry but you just missed him! He left for Kalos yesterday."

He… left? Already? Without even dropping in to say hello? It was bad enough that he didn't even tell me he was back(I had found out from Tracey) but he's already gone again? Truth be told, I had actually come here to tell Ash that I could join him again. Turns out, the elite 4 finally got wind of the fact that a minor had been running the gym for 3 years despite the presence of, not one, but _three_ adults(the people who were actually in charge of the gym). They immediately released me from my duties and now, my sisters were forced to run the gym full-time, at least until I turned 18. I was slightly upset until I realized that this meant I could start travelling again! That's why I turned up here in such a hurry. I was hoping I could catch Ash before he left again to tell him I could join him again. I didn't expect him to leave so soon though.

"Misty? Is everything alright?" Delia asked.

I sighed and explained my inner monologue to Delia.

"He can't have gotten that far in Kalos! Why don't I give him a call and tell him you'll join him?" she said.

"It's alright, Ms. Ketchum. It looks like he's forgotten about me anyway." I said dejectedly and bade her farewell.

I went back to Cerulean city.

_-One month later- _

**Brock **

"To Kalos?! You're serious?" I couldn't believe my ears! A project in Kalos! The land filled with elegant Pokémon and even more elegant women! I could hardly contain my excitement.

"Yes, Kalos," Nurse Joy responded, "There has been the discovery of a new type of Pokémon there, the fairy type, and it would be great for research purposes to learn of its properties and abilities! You don't have a problem with this, do you?"

"The only problem I'll have is how long it'll take for me to see _you_ again~" I said suavely. She grimaced and then told me to head on home so I could prepare to leave. Oh well, maybe when I'm gone she'll realize how much she misses me. I go back home and immediately begin to make preparations to leave the next day. Then I began to wonder, who should I take along with me? I certainly can't go on a journey and not take a Pokémon with me. After some deliberation, I decided to take Crobat and Steelix along with me. I had thought against Steelix, but now that he was a steel-type, he hadn't really been getting much practice at the gym anyways.

While preparing to leave, I remembered something. There was a scandal at Cerulean city gym recently. The League found out that Misty had been the one running the gym, which was pretty illegal considering that her sisters were the ones who were _supposed_ to be in charge of it. I then realized that this meant Misty was completely free and was probably itching for something to do. I smirked as I walked over to the phone.

**Misty**

It had been about a month since Pallet town. I sat by the pool at the gym, playing with Azumarill(yes, he had fully evolved at this point). Daisy had just finished battling a challenger and was taking a breather. A buizel swam towards me, wanting to play too. Yep, believe it or not, my sisters actually did do _some_ work on their world tour. They caught a few Pokémon to help me out at the gym. The only catch being, they each only caught one from Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, so really it wasn't that big of a deal, but it's the thought that counts? I thought they'd bring back a water stone because we didn't have any left at the gym but it turns out they didn't. I sighed with annoyance and I suddenly heard a cheerful Pokémon cry out.

"Evui!" Eevee exclaimed as it jumped into my lap.

Yeah, this was the reason I wanted a water stone. I had received this eevee from Mikey(remember him? He was the boy with the eevee that didn't want to evolve) when it hatched from an egg quite a while ago. I had been training him in my off-time from the gym, and he had grown quite strong, but unless he was a vaporeon I couldn't use him in gym battles… not that that was an issue anymore. Eevee and Buizel were splashing water at each other when I heard Violet call for me.

"Misty? That one creepy friend of yours is on the phone!"

"Who do you mean?" I replied, but I already had a suspicion.

"Y'know, that one who always tries to flirt with us?" she said and I knew. It was Brock. I smiled and made my way to the phone.

"Hey, Misty! It's been awhile." He exclaimed.

"Hi, Brock! How's your doctor training going?" I asked.

"It's funny you should ask actually, that's why I'm calling! I received an assignment to go to Kalos, to research fairy-types, and I was wondering if you'd wanna come with me." He said.

Kalos huh… well, I'd heard many great things about Kalos but I still wasn't sure. I wasn't sure that if I met Ash on the way, I'd be able to resist hitting him in the face.

"I don't know…" I said apprehensively.

"I also heard that there would be a Pokémon league held exclusively for water type Pokémon! Apparently they do this every year, cycling through all the types, and this year it's water!" he continued without hearing what I said but that didn't matter. I heard "Water", "Pokémon" and "League" all in the same sentence and knew that I was gonna go.

I grinned, "Well, what are we waiting for?!"

_-The next day-_

**Ritchie **

I sat in the lobby of the airport at Celadon city waiting for the boarding call for my airplane to Kalos. I glanced down at my 'new' clothes: A simple black flannel shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and grey trousers to match them. My mom _insisted_ that I wore them now that I was going back to Kalos. After all, this was my favorite outfit to wear. She also forced me to wear this black snapback which had a white front and a small PokéBall symbol at the corner. I say 'forced' because this used to be my father's. I was reluctant to wear it but then mom said, 'It's what he would have wanted' and basically emotionally blackmailed me into wearing it. I sighed and leant back in my seat and suddenly Sparky, who was sitting on my lap, perked up.

"What's the matter, Sparky?" I asked.

"Pi pikachu, pi Pikachu pi, Pi pika!" he replied.

Gee, thanks buddy, real informative. I looked in the direction he was pointing though and caught sight of a person with fiery orange hair. Who was that? And why's Sparky pointing at them? Then I remembered. I _had_ met someone who looked like that. If I'm not wrong, that must be-

My thoughts were cut off when she looked back and saw me. Her eyes widened and she smiled and waved, "Hey! Is that you, Ritchie?" Misty called out.

Brock who was standing next to her turned around and waved too. I waved back and walked towards them.

"I see you're going to Kalos as well." I said half-jokingly.

"That's right! I suppose that means you're going too?" Misty responded.

"Yep. Oh yeah, where's Ash? Isn't he with you?" I asked. Misty's face darkened and she said nothing. Brock responded instead, "Actually, we stopped travelling together for some time. Ash is already in Kalos." He then proceeded to explain their reasons for going to Kalos, as well.

"Do you mind if I join you guys?" The words slipped out of my mouth before I knew what I was saying. They were a bit surprised at my question but began beaming immediately.

"Of course! The more, the merrier right?" Brock exclaimed. Misty gave me a fist bump, "Glad to have you on board!"

I smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

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**AN: Aaand, that's a wrap! This turned out to be a pretty big chapter huh. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this! Please leave a review :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Dear Guest reviewer, I'm glad that the story was able to hook you on this early; I hope you'll continue to follow it. As for the shipping aspect, I do have a plan in mind but I won't reveal it cause you know, spoilers. I can assure you that quite a bit of drama will ensue though. As for Ash's character, you'll just have to stick around until he makes an appearance to find out :D**

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**Ritchie**

After the three of us boarded the flight, Misty and Brock found their way to their seats. Following a bit of negotiating with another passenger, we found ourselves sitting next to each other and began to chat excitedly about the Kalos region.

"So which Pokémon did you bring along with you Ritchie?" Brock asked me.

"Just Sparky," I replied and he gave an affirmative nod.

"I thought your starter pokémon was a charmander? Wasn't his name Zippo?" Misty asked

"Zippo evolved into a charizard sometime after the Johto League, actually. While heading back home, we passed by Charicific Valley and I decided that it would be a good idea to leave Zippo there so that he could get stronger." I explained. I still remember how hard it was for me to part from him, but I knew that he would be able to get much stronger there, among his own kind.

My train of thought was interrupted by the pilot making an announcement, "We will be arriving in Lumiose City shortly, passengers are requested to remain in their seats and fasten their seatbelts."

Lumiose City… It had been so long since I had last been here. Almost 6 years, to be exact. I silently wondered how much it had changed. Misty on the other hand was chirping excitedly about the things she was excited to see in Lumiose, mainly the famous Fufrou grooming.

"I've seen so many pictures of them in magazines! It's amazing how one pokémon can be styled in so many different ways!" she exclaimed.

Brock on the other hand seemed to be more excited about the prospect of the women of Kalos. '_The most elegant and beautiful in the world_,' as he put it. I snickered and looked out the window and saw it: the Prism Tower. The landmark of Lumiose city. It shone magnificently in the sun, standing tall above the city.

"It's even more amazing in person!" Misty gushed. I looked at her and saw her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"She isn't that different from-" I began to think and stopped myself. I shook my head internally. I hadn't come here to dwell on the past. What's done is done. There's no point in thinking about the past when I'm about to make start over. The plane began its descent and I pushed those intrusive thoughts out of my head.

**Brock  
**

We exited the airport into warm afternoon sunlight of the Kalos region. I looked around and I was already seeing pokémon that I had never seen before, as well as many that I'd already seen! The first thing we did was make our way to the Pokémon Center in the city so that Ritchie and Misty could register themselves for their respective Pokémon Leagues. As we enter the building, I gasp and my heart skips a beat. There, behind the counter, was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen: A pink-haired woman with a nurse's cap and a nurse's outfit. I knew immediately that such natural beauty could only mean that this was the Nurse Joy of the Kalos region. I immediately ran over to her to profess my undying love for her.

"Oh, Nurse Joy! From the moment I laid eyes on you, I knew. I knew that-" I began but immediately felt a sharp pain in my ear. I didn't even have to look up to know that it was Misty dragging me away by the ear. Some things never change after all.

"Wait a minute! Are you Brock? The doctor-in-training from Pewter City?" Nurse Joy called out. Misty froze and stared in bewilderment, "You know him?!" she exclaimed.

I used this opportunity to escape from her and walked up coolly to the good nurse, "Well, of course! The charms of Brock Takeshi are famous all around the world!" I said.

"Yeah, famous for being annoying." Misty deadpanned.

"Oh, it's not that, I assure you. The Nurse Joy from Pewter City gave me a call earlier and told me to inform you to head to Professor Sycamore's lab. I believe he has something to help you with your research." Nurse Joy explained. She told us the directions to the professor's lab and we made our way over there.

We arrived outside and WOW. I wasn't sure if this was a lab or a mansion. I looked back at my two companions and they seemed to be just as bewildered as I was. Honestly, I felt quite intimidated.

"Well, go on then. It's _you_ he asked for after all" Misty said.

I shot her a glare and pushed open the door.

**Misty**

I haven't been inside many labs (read: I've been in exactly one) but damn, this was impressive! It really did feel more like a mansion than a pokémon lab. I was in the middle of wondering what kind of man this professor might be when I heard a voice.

"Aha! So you must the doctor-in-training, Brock! It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," he said. I looked up and saw a man wearing a white lab coat and blue shirt walking down the stairs. His hair was black and he looked quite young.

_That's the professor?_ I asked myself, _Wow, he's kinda ho-_ my thoughts were cut off when he turned towards me and Ritchie.

"Hello there! You are…?" Sycamore asked.

"Oh um, my name is um, Wisty Materfl- wait, no, I mean – Misty. Misty Waterflower." I stuttered andmy cheeks went red from embarrassment. Ritchie let out a small chuckle and introduced himself too.

"My name is Ritchie Matthews and this," he said motioning to Sparky on his shoulder, "Is my partner, Sparky!"

"Pikachu!" Sparky cried out.

"A trainer from Kanto with a pikachu on his shoulder? You remind me of another trainer who passed through here just a month ago!" Sycamore said.

There was an awkward silence in the air as we had a silent argument about who was to ask the obvious question. No one won that in the end and Professor Sycamore began showing us around the lab. After a bit, Brock and Professor Sycamore left to discuss something, this left me and Ritchie out in the yard along with the professor's assistants: Cosette and Sophie.

Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? Daisy was adamant about me not taking any of the "Gym Pokémon" and so the only one I was allowed to bring with me was Eevee.

Anyway, I let Eevee out of his pokéball and he quickly scampered off to play with Sparky and the other pokémon. While I watched Eevee play, I noticed a small pokémon hiding itself behind a bush. It was white and seemed to have a small green cap with a red horn sticking out of it. On looking at it closely, I realized that it was a Ralts! I had seen a few while I was in Hoenn, but I didn't expect to see one here of all places. I looked around and saw that Ritchie was busy playing with the other pokémon so I gently walked towards the ralts. To my surprise, it didn't try to back away! It stood there and stared at me as if to ask, "Yes? How can I help you?" I bent down and held out my hand.

"Hi there! My name's Misty. You're a ralts aren't you?" I asked with my arm outstretched. Again the ralts surprised me with its boldness and held out its hand to shake mine. It nodded its head and said, "Ralral." In a rather soft voice. I smiled at it and then asked it again, "How come you aren't playing with your friends there?"

"Ralts here is bit of a feisty one," Sophie chuckled, "He's always picking fights with the other pokémon, I think he really is just itching for something to do."

"Itching for something to do, huh? I sure know what that feels like." I muttered while stroking Ralts' chin. Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Say, Sophie, you won't mind if I battle Ralts with Eevee will you?" I asked.

"Of course not! Although I suggest you battle over in that clearing over there so that you don't disturb the other pokémon." Sophie said.

I turned back to Ralts, "So, what do you say? Wanna battle?"

"Ral!" It cried out in reply and used Teleport to get to the clearing. I whistled for Eevee and followed suit.

**Brock**

"Mega evolution?" I asked astounded. Evolving Pokémon beyond their final stage was possible? It almost seemed like something out of a fairy tale to me.

"Yes. Through my studies on pokémon evolution, I have discovered that if a strong bond exists between a trainer and their pokémon, certain pokémon can evolve again, with the help of a key stone and a mega stone."

A key stone and a mega stone? None of this was making any sense to me and it seemed like the professor caught on to my confusion as well. He briefly explained how mega evolution worked and how there were actually real –life examples of trainers using mega evolution, such as the Champion of Kalos, Diantha. I was still a bit shocked but those thoughts were quickly pushed away when I heard Misty call out, "Eevee, use Quick Attack!"

I looked out the balcony and saw that Misty and her eevee were battling a ralts, which seemed to be participating in the battle with equal vigor as it dodged Eevee's attack using Teleport and then attacked it with a Magical Leaf.

"Oh my," Professor Sycamore sighed, "That ralts has been going quite nuts with no one to battle for a while now! I suppose it's a good thing your friend will tire it out."

Going nuts with no one to battle, eh? Sounds like Misty made a new friend quite quickly then. I looked back down and saw Eevee fire a Shadow Ball at Ralts, which managed to connect this time, sending it flying off its feet. But it was far from out. It got back up and began to charge up an attack. Suddenly, a blinding light began to emanate from its body knocking Eevee off of its feet.

"What was that?!" Ritchie exclaimed.

"That, my friend, was Dazzling Gleam! It's a fairy-type move!" Sycamore shouted in response.

"Ralts are fairy-types?" Misty asked.

"Yes! After we discovered the existence of Fairy-types, we began to inspect previously discovered Pokémon more closely and discovered that many of them are in fact part fairy-type!" Sycamore replied.

"Whoa, that's pretty cool!" Ritchie exclaimed but was immediately cut off by a loud _BOOM_.

"What was that?!" I shouted.

"Professor! Someone has broken the compound wall!" one of the professor's assistant's shouted.

"Again? You can't be serious!" he cried out, but nevertheless grabbed a pokéball off his desk and ran downstairs. I quickly followed suit.

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**AN: Whew! That was even longer than the last one. I apologize for this chapter being pretty boring, but I didn't really want to rush through everything and end up making it a mess. Thanks for reading, and leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Ritchie**

A loud_ BOOM _rang out from somewhere behind the mansio- I mean, laboratory. Misty and Eevee stopped battling immediately and we began to race to the sight of breach. Ralts was two steps ahead of us and teleported itself there the second the explosion occurred. When we reached we saw Professor Sycamore standing behind a large purple pokémon; a garchomp. Standing opposite to him were two people –a man and a woman- dressed in orange suits and sunglasses (and orange hair to match?)

"Who are you people? Why have you attacked us?" the professor demanded, accompanied by a snarl from Garchomp.

"We are… " the man began but then-

"Team Flare." I said completing his sentence.

"Wha- I mean, yes, that's right! We are Team Flare." He exclaimed, "And the reason we have attacked is none other than _you_ Professor."

"Me?" Sycamore asked.

"That's right. We require information on some matters related to the phenomenon known as mega evolution and we thought that it would be best to receive some expert advice," the woman said.

"Long story short, you're coming with us! Go, Elektrike!" the man threw a pokéball and an elektrike emerged in a flash of light. The woman threw another pokéball from which a zubat emerged.

"Is that all you've got?" Professor Sycamore asked smugly. I had to agree with him, to be honest. A zubat and an elektrike against a garchomp? It's almost like they_ want _to be destroyed. I lowered my guard, expecting that the professor would make quick work of these clowns, when a voice inside me said,_ whatever you do, don't underestimate them._ I shook it off as just paranoia. Don't underestimate them? How was anyone supposed to take these guys seriously?

My train of thought was interrupted when Sycamore shouted, "Garchomp, use Dragon Claw!"

Garchomp's claws glowed blue and it lunged towards the Zubat.

"Dodge it, Zubat!" the woman commanded. Zubat nimbly dodged Garchomp by flying out of the way at the last second.

"Now, use Toxic!" she smirked. Zubat sprayed a torrent of purple liquid at Gachomp at point-blank range.

"Gachomp! Are you alright?" the professor exclaimed. Garchomp's face had gone a nasty shade of purple but it turned towards Professor Sycamore and gave an affirmative nod.

"That was a nice trick, but it'll take more than that to stop us!" Sycamore shouted triumphantly.

"Normally, I'm sure you'd be right, but that's not the only trick we have up our sleeve," the man said smugly. I was confused until I realized that Elektrike was missing! The professor quickly picked up on this too.

"Garchomp, keep your guard-," he began but was interrupted by Elektrike erupting out of the ground beneath Garchomp.

"Elektrike, use Ice Fang!"

The super-effective attack connected and Garchomp let out a harsh roar of pain. Then, it collapsed to the ground as the poison took its toll on it.

"Garchomp!" Professor Sycamore cried out and rushed to the pokémon's side, "Dammit, you were still recovering from last month and tried to fight…" he muttered

"Hmph, that was far easier than I thought it would be," the woman grumbled, "Alright, get up now, you're coming with us."

She made to grab the professor when suddenly; Elektrike was thrown into her by an invisible force.

"Ralts!" Ralts cried out as it released the Confusion attack.

"Why you little- Elektrike use Bite!" the man shouted. Elektrike jumped off the woman and lunged at Ralts only to be thrown off-course by another Confusion attack. However, this victory was short-lived. Ralts let out sharp cry of pain as Zubat bit into it and was knocked out immediately.

"That must have been Poison Fang," Sycamore said, "It's super-effective on Fairy types."

Just our luck. Misty rushed out on to the battlefield to pick up Ralts. I looked around and realized that Brock was nowhere to be seen. Where the hell did he go?

"Ritchie! What do you say we show these bastards who's boss?" Misty asked while gingerly picking up Ralts, "Evui!" Eevee cried out and jumped onto Misty's shoulder.

"Music to my ears," I replied as Sparky jumped on to mine.

**Brock**

Okay, so I managed to get a bit lost. It was a big mansion, you can't blame me! Finally, I did manage to make it out to the yard but it was on the other side of where Professor Sycamore and the others were. I began to run towards where all the noise was coming from when I noticed something strange. There, right in the center of the path was a large rock, covered in moss. I ran around it, wondering what it was and why it was important when I happened across the 'battlefield.'

Garchomp was lying on the ground, fainted and Ralts was fainted in Misty's arms. All the other pokémon were cowering in fear as Sparky and Eevee battled fiercely with a zubat and elektrike.

"Brock!" Misty cried out when she saw me, "Quick, we need to get rid of them! Send out Steelix!"

I smirked and reached for my backpack. These people, whoever they were, were about to begin begging for mercy- If I had my backpack that is.

"Shit! I left my backpack inside!" I shouted.

"WHAT!? You can't be serious!" Ritchie replied.

I shook my head sheepishly, "Stall them! I'll be right back!" I said.

"Not so fast!" the woman in the orange suit shouted, "Zubat, use Toxic!"

Zubat used Sparky and Ritchie's distractions to its advantage and splashed it with the poison. Damn it, it was only a matter of time until Sparky went down. Definitely not enough time for me to go get my backpack while Eevee faced them alone. Suddenly, I was struck with an idea. Misty wouldn't like it, but we didn't really have much of a choice. I hurriedly whispered it into her ear.

"I don't like this idea," she grumbled as eevee dodged a Spark attack from Elektrike before being hit by a wing attack.

"I don't think there's a choice in the matter at this point." Ritchie said and Misty reluctantly agreed. Misty quickly called Eevee back to her and whispered the plan to him while Sparky let loose a Thunderbolt as a distraction.

"Evui!" Eevee said cheerfully and Misty breathed a sigh of relief. Great, now that all parties were in agreement, it was time to execute the plan.

**Misty**

I didn't like this plan one bit but Ritchie was right; at this point, we didn't have a choice. The first order of business would have to be to somehow knock out Zubat before Sparky succumbed to the poison, which wasn't that much longer from now.

"Sparky, use Thunderbolt again!" Ritchie cried out. Sparky shot a bolt of electricity at Zubat.

"Intercept it, Elektrike!" Team Flare grunt A(yes that's what we'll call him) commanded. Elektrike jumped in between Sparky and Zubat and absorbed the bolt.

Tch, Lightning rod. That ability was being a thorn in our sides ever since this battle began. The best way to finish off Zubat would be to separate it and Elektrike from each other. Luckily, we had a plan. Or, at least I did.

"Where'd that damned Eevee go?" Grunt B(the woman) cried.

Ha. Too late. Eevee erupted out from under the ground headfirst into Elektrike knocking it into the air.

"Eevee, use Iron Tail on Zubat!"

Eevee's tail glowed white as it turned mid-air and smacked Zubat square in the face with it, sending it straight into the ground.

"Zubat!" Grunt B cried out.

"You pesky brat! Elektrike, use Spark!" Grunt A ordered. Elektrike surrounded itself with electricity and leapt towards Eevee.

"Eevee, use Quick Attack to dodge!" I called out.

Eevee moved faster than the eye could see and dodged Elektrike's attack.

"Chase after it, Elektrike!"

"Keep running, Eevee!"

Elektrike charged up another Spark attack and lunged after Eevee who was continuing to run away in the same direction Brock came from. Grunt A and I began to run after them – and I saw it. The mossy rock Brock was talking about. I crossed my fingers and shouted, "Now, Ritchie!"

"Sparky, use Thunder!" I heard him in shout in response.

The air suddenly began to smell of ozone. I looked behind me and saw a large thunder cloud hovering over the lab.

"PikaaaCHUUUUUU!" Sparky cried out and bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds

"No, Zubat!" Grunt B exclaimed and I knew. That pesky Zubat had been defeated. I felt Ralts beginning to stir in my arms but I paid no attention to it; it was our turn now.

"You brats! You'll pay for that!" Grunt A thundered (heh), "How about an attack you can't dodge! Elektrike, use Shock Wave!"

Elektrike shot a bolt of electricity at straight at Eevee.

"NOW, EEVEE!" I shouted.

"Evuiii!" he responded and jumped on the moss stone.

All of a sudden bright light began emanating from Eevee's body and its body began to change shape. It grew more sleek and tall and leave-like structures began to sprout from its head and legs. The white light stopped just in time for the Shock Wave attack to connect but it didn't do much damage.

Why? Well, Because Eevee had just evolved into a Leafeon.

"Leaf!" Leafeon purred and I smirked. Time to end this.

"What the-!" the grunt exclaimed to which I responded, "Leafeon, use Razor Leaf!"

Leafeon let out a battle cry and shot razor-sharp leaves at Elektrike causing it to yelp in pain.

"No! Elektrike use-," Grunt A began but I quickly cut him off.

"Leafeon, use Quick Attack!" Leafeon charged at Elektrike, knocking it off its feet, "Now, finish it with Take Down!"

Leafeon charged at Elektrike one final time, with much force sending Elektrike crashing into the grunt.

"You little bitch! Mark my words, you'll pay for this!" he threatened as he recalled the elektrike into its pokéball and scurried off.

"Misty, you did it!" Ritchie exclaimed, "Pikachu!" a very exhausted Sparky cried out.

"It was all thanks to Leafeon here." I said. Leafeon purred and nuzzled its head against my legs, "You and Sparky did great too! Although, a Thunder on a Zubat was a bit much don't you think?"

"I wasn't ready to take _any_ chances right there," Ritchie replied.

"I must say, that was a most impressive bit of battling you displayed just now!" Professor Sycamore exclaimed, "I truly am grateful for all of your help. Why don't you rest for a bit here? Then I can discuss Mega Evolution with you all a bit more!"

"Sounds good to me! What do you guys think?" Brock asked.

"Totally. We're exhausted." Ritchie said.

Ritchie… actually now that I think about it, there was something he said earlier that had been bugging me. Now is as good a time as any to ask about it, I guess.

"Ritchie… How did you know who those guys were?"

* * *

**AN: Leafeon?! I know some of you are probably shaking your heads rn, but honestly, Leafeon is such an underrated eeveelution and I felt like it deserved some much needed attention. In case you haven't figured it out yet, Misty's team will NOT be only water types.  
In response to another guest review: I'm glad you found it interesting so far but I'm sorry to tell you that while the original trio will have a 'reunion' of sorts, they will not be travelling together. All four of the Kalos group in the anime will eventually become major characters too, but until then it's just Misty, Ritchie and Brock. **

**Thanks for reading, and please leave a review :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Ritchie**

"Ritchie… How did you know who those guys were?" Misty asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked back.

"Don't you remember? You said that they were Team Flare just when they were about to introduce themselves." She replied.

I did? I thought back to when we first saw them. How strange their orange attires were and how eccentric they looked and I remembered-

"_We are-," the man began but then-_

"_Team Flare," I said completing his sentence._

Wait. How _did_ I know who they were? As far as I knew, I'd never met them before, had I? I thought long and hard back to 6 years ago, when I still was in Kalos, searching my memory for something that would indicate knowing who they were, but nothing.

"I… don't know, actually," I muttered. Misty tilted her head in confusion but shrugged it off and went inside the lab. Brock gave me a tentative look and followed suit.

"There's no point in dwelling on what has happened," Professor Sycamore patted my shoulder, "for now, let's all just rest and take it easy."

I watched Professor Sycamore as he too went inside the lab. Part of me knew that what he was saying made sense, but there was a small voice somewhere inside nagging me, _"Maybe you're not thinking hard enough."_

I pushed those thoughts aside and went back into the lab.

After some rest, Professor Sycamore took us around the main laboratory all the while explaining Mega Evolution to us.

"Wait! So hypothetically speaking, Misty's leafeon might be able to mega evolve?" I asked.

"It's possible!" Professor Sycamore responded, "Although you must remember, mega evolution requires certain conditions. The trainer must have a key stone and the pokémon a mega stone. The mega stone also needs to be compatible with the pokémon holding it."

"What does that mean?" Misty asked.

"Well, take Garchomp here for example. I might have a key stone, but I wouldn't be able to mega evolve it unless I had a Garchompite- Garchomp's mega stone." Sycamore said, "That's not all though, mega evolution requires one last, crucial thing; a pokémon can only mega evolve if it shares a strong bond with its trainer. If this one condition isn't met, then you might as well consider the key stone and mega stone null and void."

"Wow…" I said. Mega evolution! Maybe I could catch a pokémon that's capable of it. That would be totally wicked.

"My goodness, look at the time!" Sycamore cried out, "I think you lot should get a good night's rest. You have a long journey ahead of you after all."

"Thanks again, Professor!" Misty said.

"Me? No, no, I should be the one thanking you! In fact, I grabbed just the thing." Sycamore reached into his pocket and pulled out three red, square-shaped devices. They seemed to have some sort of screen in the middle.

"These are Pokédexes. They scan the pokémon you'll run into on your travels and give you useful information about them!" Professor Sycamore explained.

I already knew how a pokédex worked so I put mine in my pocket. Misty on the other hand was excited to try it out. She pointed the pokédex at Leafeon and scanned it

"Leafeon, the Verdant Pokémon. Its body composition is similar to that of a plant so it's able to use photosynthesis to produce fresh air,"the pokédex said in a robotic voice.

"I've always wanted one of these," Misty grinned as she pocketed her own pokédex.

**Brock**

"Professor, I'd been meaning to ask," Ritchie said, "You mentioned that something happened to Garchomp last month?"

"Ah, of course! How could I ever forget that day," Sycamore sighed. He began to narrate the events of that day. About how Team Rocket (they followed Ash _here_ too?!) tried to force Garchomp to mega evolve, how it led to Garchomp going berserk and how in his attempt to save it, Ash climbed all the way to the top of Prism Tower. He then began to talk about how Pikachu was thrown off the tower?! And how… Ash jumped after him?!

"He did WHAT?!" Misty yelled.

I shook my head in disbelief. I knew Ash was a bit of a numbskull but this was something else!

"I don't see why you're so shocked. I would have done the same if it was Sparky, wouldn't you?" Ritchie asked seriously.

Misty stared at the ground, flushed with embarrassment. She muttered an incomprehensible 'yeah' in response to Ritchie and I nodded my head sheepishly. The professor chuckled and continued the story, telling us about how Ash was saved in mid-air by a Mega Blaziken. Blaziken can mega evolve?! Wow, wait till May hears that! Finally, the professor declared that it was way past our bedtime and began to send us on our way. We reached the door and Misty made to open it when suddenly-

"Ralts!" Ralts had suddenly appeared out of nowhere right in front of us.

"Ralts? What are you doing here?" Misty asked surprised.

Ralts walked up to Misty and clutched her leg, not letting her take another step.

"It looks like Ralts wants to come along with you," Professor Sycamore said.

"Wha-? Is that okay, Professor?" Misty said incredulously.

"Of course! Like I said earlier, Ralts loves battling. I'm sure he'd be much happier with you." Sycamore smiled.

"Alright!" Misty exclaimed as she took out a pokéball. She bent down to Ralts and gently touched the pokéball to its head, sucking it into it. The ball didn't even shake.

"Misty, please wait a second!" Professor Sycamore exclaimed and he hurried back inside. Moments later, he came back out holding a shining stone in his hand.

"When we found this Ralts, he was holding this mega stone! There's no way of knowing for sure, but there's a strong possibility that this is a Gardevoirite!"

"Really?!" Misty's said as her eyes sparkled and the professor nodded his head. "I'm afraid I don't have a key stone, but you should be able to get one at Shalour City," he continued.

Misty thanked him once again and we set off back to the Pokémon Center. When we reached, we immediately checked ourselves into our rooms; Ritchie and I were sharing one and Misty was in another. We wished each other good night and went inside our rooms. I collapsed as soon as I saw the bed. Unfortunately, sleep didn't come as easily to Ritchie.

I woke up in the middle of the night to take a piss and saw that his bed was empty. Our room had a small balcony looking out to the city streets. I saw Ritchie leaning over the edge, lost in thought.

"Not sleepy?" I asked walking up to him. He jumped and turned around.

"Dude, don't creep up on me like that." He sighed with exasperation, "And yeah, something like that."

"What's up? Is everything okay?" I asked him.

"I dunno, Brock…" he said. I smirked, "I think I know what this is about." I said smugly.

"Oh, yeah? What?"

"You're starting to like Misty, aren't you?" I asked still smirking. I expected him to vehemently deny it or at least blush, but to my surprise, he started laughing!

"That's not it at all!" he exclaimed still laughing, "Although, I suppose you're partially right." He continued.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You were right that it's about a girl, but it's definitely not Misty." He said.

"Aha! So it's girl trouble! Well, if that's the case then leave it to your pal Brocko! No one knows the inside of a woman's heart the way I do." I brag.

"Hmm…" he thought, "Eh, I might as well. Not like you can fuck up this situation anymore than it already has been."

"That's right- Hey!" Ritchie began laughing again at my reaction and I let out a few chuckles too.

"I actually used to live here, you know," he began, "Not _here_ specifically, but in a town called Vaniville Town, and I had a friend. Her name was Serena."

"Oooh, childhood friends, huh?"

Ritchie shot me a glare and continued, "I used to like her and I thought that she did too. The day before we were shifting to Kanto, I told her how I felt. In response, she got super mad and said that she hated me and never wanted to see me again."

"Oh," was all I could respond to that, "But why remember all that now?" I asked after a few moments of silence.

"It's cause of this place. Lumiose City. Serena and I were meant to set out on our pokémon journey together. We were supposed to come here to Professor Sycamore's lab and receive our very first pokémon. We were so excited! Lumiose city is the biggest and most beautiful city in all of Kalos and it was our dream to be here one day. Unfortunately, that all changed when I had to move suddenly." He said.

"But why did you move?" I asked.

"That's… a long story. Doesn't matter. Thanks for listening to me ramble," he said abruptly and made his way back to his bed. I stared at him and was about to say something when I remembered. I still had to use the bathroom.

**Misty**

I stood outside Ritchie and Brock's door, replaying their conversation. At the very least, it explained why Ritchie had been acting weirdly ever since we landed in Lumiose. I sighed and hurried back to my room when I heard Brock approaching the door.

At least I wasn't the only one who was still hanging on to someone from my past...

_Goodbye, funny how that's such a hard thing to say…  
Now it's time to let go but, never thought I'd feel this way,  
I promised not to be sad but, we both knew I was lying,  
Gotta fight back tears cause, can't let you see me crying,_

_You're more than just my best friend…_  
_What makes me misty most of all,  
In our final curtain call,  
Is knowing that I won't see you,_

_Again…_

I collapsed onto my bed just as the tears started to stream down my face.


	5. Chapter 5

**Misty**

I was the last one to wake up. I quickly took a shower, dressed myself and went down to the lobby of the pokémon center. Ritchie and Brock were there, talking to Nurse Joy.

"Congratulations! You are now registered for the Kalos League." Nurse Joy said, "Take this badge case as well," she handed him a case with the symbol of the league on it

"Alright!" Ritchie responded and then he turned and saw me, "Morning, Misty! Aren't you gonna register for the Water Pokémon League?" he asked.

"Oh, right!" I replied, "But wait… both pokémon I have right now are non-water types! How am I supposed to take part in the league?"

"Oh, that isn't an issue," Nurse Joy said, "The criteria for entering the Water League is the same as the regular League! You must have collected all 8 gym badges from across the Kalos region. There is no rule that states that the gyms must be defeated with only the certain type of Pokémon."

"Really? How come?" Brock asked.

"Well… the rule _did_ exist at first, but it became a huge problem at times. For example, the gym at Santalune City is a bug-type gym. It's next to impossible to defeat it using only grass-type pokémon! Since many challengers would simply get stuck at a certain gym, the rule was scrapped and now the only rule restricting the pokémon types is at the actual Conference." Nurse Joy explained.

"Santalune City, huh? I suppose that's gonna be our first gym battle then!" Ritchie said.

"The Santalune City gym is the closest one to Lumiose City, so you would be right." Nurse Joy nodded.

"Wait. I heard that the Prism Tower itself is a gym! Isn't that true?" Brock asked.

"That it is, but trainers who have just started their journey do not normally fare well in that gym. The leader himself advised trainers to only challenge the gym after you've obtained at least four badges." Nurse Joy said, "Now then, shall I register you for the Water Pokémon League?" she turned to me and I nodded in response.

"Okay then, give me an identity proof and I'll register you right away."

I handed her my new pokédex and after completing the registration, she handed it back to me. I turned around and saw that Ritchie and Brock were missing.

"Huh? Where'd they go?" I asked. Nurse Joy simply pointed towards the video phone booths in response. I saw Ritchie sitting down at one of them dialing a number.

"Who are you calling, Ritchie?" I asked him.

"I'm just checking up on Zippo," he responded as he finished dialing the number. The phone rang a few times and then the screen lit up with the image of a green-haired girl holding a phone.

"Hey, Ritchie! How've you been?" she asked

"I've been doing well, Liza. I'm in the Kalos region right now but I thought I'd see how Zippo was doing," he responded.

Ah, right. Liza. It had been so long, I had forgotten her name! She was about to say something to Ritchie when she saw me.

"Wait a minute… I know you, you're… Misty, right?" she asked.

"That's me!" I smiled, "It's good to see you again, Liza!"

"Likewise… and wait, isn't that Brock? Hi, Brock!" she said.

"Ah! She remembers me! This is definite proof of the love that blossomed between us!" Brock swooned. I shook my head and Liza let out a nervous laugh before turning her attention back to Ritchie.

"Actually, Ritchie, It's a good thing you called. There's something I have to tell you," she said.

**Ritchie**

"What do you mean, Liza?" I asked anxiously.

"Well… Charla laid an egg!" she exclaimed.

"Wha- really?" I said, "That's great! But why is that something you _had_ to tell me?"

"The thing is… Zippo is the father." she responded rather sheepishly.

Oh. Wait-

"What?!" I practically shouted into the mouthpiece. Zippo? A father? When the fu-

"I thought Charla had a thing going on with_ Ash's _charizard! How is Zippo the father?" I asked incredulously.

"Well the thing is, Ash's charizard went back to him awhile ago, leaving Charla super lonely. No matter what I tried, she wouldn't snap out of her funk. Thankfully, Zippo was able to woo her out of that and one thing led to another and then…" she stopped, her face going slightly pink.

"Well, anyway," she hurriedly continued, "It's not the first time two charizards have mated here. Quite a few of them raise their kids themselves too, but…"

"But, what?" I asked

"I was wondering if you could keep this egg." She replied.

"What'd you mean? Wouldn't Charla and Zippo want to raise their kid themselves?" I asked again to which she replied, "I'm sure they would, but I discussed this with Zippo and he has no problem with someone else raising it, as long as it's no one else but you."

As if on cue, a roar erupted from somewhere on Liza's side.

"Hi, Zippo! Do you wanna say hi to Ritchie?" she asked.

She turned the camera a bit towards the right (her left?) and I saw him. My first-ever pokémon, Zippo the charizard. He was looking better than ever! I guess all the training was paying off.

"Hi, Zippo! How've you been?" I asked smiling.

"Pika pika!" Sparky cried with excitement upon seeing his old friend. Zippo grunted back a greeting to the both of us. He seemed to be holding something in his arms. Upon looking at it closely, I realized that it was an egg. He was holding it close to his body, keeping it warm.

"Is that it?" I asked and Zippo nodded.

"But, why do you want me to raise it? Wouldn't you be happier doing it yourself?"

Just then Charla entered the frame. She was still wearing her signature pink ribbon. She nuzzled fondly against Zippo; she didn't seem to realize that I was on the phone, maybe cause Liza didn't turn the monitor.

Seeing Zippo and Charla's displays of affection, I understood why Zippo wanted me to raise his kid. At the same time, Brock and Misty seemed to have understood too.

"Ritchie…" Misty said and Brock comfortingly rested his hand on my shoulder, but I barely noticed it was there. I took a deep breath and faced the video again.

"I get it, Zippo. You don't want to leave Charla alone all over again but you also don't want to abandon me, is that right?" I asked shakily. Charla turned towards the camera and then looked back at Zippo who simply nodded again.

Hardly trusting my voice to be stable I continued, "You don't want to abandon me, but you don't want Charla to be burdened with raising a child alone, so you're entrusting it to me." Zippo grunted an affirmation and held out the egg towards the camera (to Liza).

I chuckled and said, "How is that fair, Zippo? How can you expect _me_ to be able to raise it by myself then?"

Without hesitating, Zippo let out a series of grunts in response.

"… he said-," Liza began but I cut her off.

"_You raised __**me**__ on your own, didn't you?"_

Tears had already started pouring down my face. I was about to say something again but I remembered; Zippo couldn't see my face. He didn't know I was crying. I couldn't let him hear me like this, especially not when he's entrusting me with part of his family. So, I took another deep breath and wiped the tears off my face and in the most stable voice I could muster said, "Alright, buddy. I'll do it. Send it over."

**Brock**

It turns out pokéballs could hold eggs too! But they simply keep them in suspended animation and don't actually incubate them. Within a few minutes, the transfer was complete.

"Well, that's that, I guess," Liza said, "Take good care of that now, Ritchie."

"Thanks, Liza. I will," Ritchie replied, "Take care, you two. Try not to get too naughty." He added with a smirk. Zippo roared indignantly in response and Ritchie laughed drily.

"Well… it's time for me to go. See you soon!" he said. Liza, Charla and Zippo waved in response as Ritchie hung up.

Ritchie sighed and set the pokéball down on the table and opened it carefully. The egg grew to full size before our eyes. It was completely orange in color. He stared it for a while lost in thought. Finally, he came back to his senses when Misty lightly tapped his shoulder. He took the egg to the main desk – probably to ask for an incubator – without a word.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" I asked Misty, still staring at him.

"… I don't know, to be honest," she replied, "Having to let go of a pokémon you had for such a long time… It isn't easy at all."

Of course, how could I have forgotten? Misty too had to release Togepi – sorry – Togetic, a pokémon she raised from the time it was born.

"Maybe you should talk to him?" I said after a pause.

"Let him have some time to let everything sink in first. We can't smother him like we're his parents." She responded.

"… That was actually quite mature." I replied, mildly shocked.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" she scowled.

"No- nothing! I just mean- " I stuttered but stopped halfway as Ritchie came back holding a brand new incubator with the egg inside it.

"Well, the good news is that this egg isn't too far off from hatching. Nurse Joy says it's probably because both of the parents were fire types, so it incubated faster in the early stages." Ritchie said.

"That's great! So, are we ready to head out now?" Misty said.

Ritchie smiled sadly and nodded,"Yeah, sorry about that delay."

"Don't apologize, man, it's not a big deal." I said, shaking my head.

"Alright then… first stop: Santalune City!" he declared, "Should we head out?"

"After you, boss." Misty smirked. Ritchie rolled his eyes but a small grin crept onto his face as we headed out of the doors.

* * *

**AN: Sorry about the long gap between this chapter and the last. I always seem to experience technical issues whenever I have something important to do, ugh.  
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the feels trip I tried to take you on. I'm not really used to writing scenes like that so any constructive criticism is greatly appreciated (especially since there's gonna be a LOT more where that came from). **


	6. Chapter 6

**Misty**

"So, which way do we have to go to get to Santalune City?" I asked after we stepped out of the building.

Ritchie reached into his backpack and pulled out a blue device of some kind.

"What's that?" Brock asked.

"Oh, this? It's an electronic map of Kalos, it kinda doubles as a smartphone too since you can check stuff up on the internet with it. My mom ordered this a few days before I left," he answered, "Now let's see here… Route 4 is the fastest way to get to Santalune City." he said.

"I guess that's where we're headed then," Brock said.

"You guys go on ahead. There's something I wanna do here first." I replied.

"What do you mean?" Ritchie asked.

"Shopping, of course! Unless you guys want to join-," I had barely finished talking when I saw that the two of them had vanished.

Well, that was my plan anyway. While I had intended on shopping in Lumiose, I could wait for another time. After making sure they weren't coming back I ran over to professor Sycamore's lab. I stood at the door after ringing the doorbell waiting for him to come out. The door opened and he looked at me in confusion.

"Misty? What's the matter?" he asked.

"Professor, could you do me a small favor?" I requested

"But of course! What is it you need?" he smiled.

"Please don't mention any of us to Ash," I said.

The professor seemed a bit confused at my request but he nodded nonetheless.

"Sure, but that's quite an unusual request, Misty. I thought you and Ash were friends?" he responded.

"It's a long story, Professor, but please try not to mention us to him," I said.

"Alright, I won't mention you to him," he replied.

After thanking him, I quickly hurried towards route 4(thank Arceus for signs). I saw Ritchie and Brock standing there talking about something.

"What's up?" I said casually walking up to them.

"Oh, you're back," Ritchie replied, "Not much, really, Brock and I were just checking out the pokémon that could be caught on route 4."

"You finished shopping pretty quickly, huh?" Brock asked.

"Nothing caught my eye," I shrugged, "Anyway, shall we head out?"

**Ritchie**

We set out towards Santalune City(finally). Route 4 was a pretty long route which had mazes and gardens of yellow and red flowers running alongside it. Apparently, there were many different pokémon hiding underneath them. I was about to head into the flowers to catch myself a new pokémon when I heard a commotion from somewhere further down the route. It was hard to tell, but it sounded like someone was yelling. I turned to Misty and Brock and saw that they had noticed it too. We began to run towards the yelling.

It wasn't long before we found the source of the yelling. It was a man, yelling at a pikachu.

"… You worthless piece of trash! I go through the trouble of bringing you here all the way from Alola, only for you to be utterly useless and weak?! What's so special about Alolan Pikachu anyway?" he yelled.

The poor pikachu cowered in fear underneath its trainer. It looked pretty badly beaten up and was close to tears. Then suddenly, the trainer kicked the pikachu in the guts. The pikachu went flying back into the flowers.

"Pika!" Sparky cried out and rushed off my shoulder towards it. Meanwhile, the three of us stood in shock watching this asshole take out a pokéball and crush it beneath his feet.

Brock came back to his senses first. He quickly hurried over to the Pikachu to tend to it. The man turned around and saw us standing there.

"Huh? The hell do you kids want?" he asked gruffly.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?! How dare you treat a pokémon like that?" Misty exclaimed.

"Excuse me? I don't believe that's any of your business, girlie. Run along now," he responded.

"Like hell, we're gonna leave! We'll make you pay for that!" I say reaching for a pokéball, except…

Oh, shit. I didn't have any. Well, luckily, Misty did.

"Leafeon, I choose you!" Leafeon appeared in a flash of light, already in its battle stance.

"Pesky brat," the man muttered. He grabbed a pokéball of his own and sent out his own pokémon, "Vespiquen, put her in her place."

A bee-like pokémon with a black striped abdomen – kinda like a gown – came out of the pokéball. It had red eyes and a red gem on its forehead and had small, bug-like wings on its back. I took out my pokédex to scan it.

"Vespiquen, the Beehive Pokémon. Its body is a hive and it raises its offspring with the honey gathered by Combee," the pokédex said.

A bug-type? That meant Leafeon was already at a disadvantage. Not to worry, though, I'm sure Misty had a plan. I turned towards her and was met with a pale face.

"B-b-bug!" she cried out in terror.

"Aww, what's the matter, scared of a wee little bug?" the man asked mockingly. Misty's face went red with rage, but she was still trembling with fear.

"You little-," she stuttered but was cut off by Brock.

"That's enough."

His voice rang out clearly and sharply through the meadow. He walked towards us carrying the unconscious pikachu in his arms and with Sparky on his shoulder. He looked calm, but behind his eyes was a fire that sent chills down my spine. He kept walking until he stood between Vespiquen and Leafeon. I saw fear flicker on the man's face for just a second before he regained his composure.

"Who the hell do you kids think you are, anyway?" he yelled, his voice shaking slightly.

"You're about to find out." Brock responded, "Hey, Misty, Let me handle this one."

"S-sure," she replied and called Leafeon back to her.

Brock reached for a pokéball and threw it into the air.

**Brock**

In a flash of light, Crobat came out of the pokéball and hovered above me. I stared the man down, daring him to make the first move, which he finally did.

"Vespiquen, use air slash!" he commanded.

Vespiquen's wings began to glow as it flapped them, sending a blade of air towards Crobat.

"Power through it with Aerial Ace, Crobat."

Crobat's wings glowed white and it shot through the Air Slash and made direct contact with the vespiquen, knocking it out instantly.

"What?! That's impossible! Are you as weak as that good-for-nothing pikachu?!" he screamed at the pokémon, but to no avail; it was out cold.

My blood began to boil. This man could barely even train his pokémon well enough for them to stand a weak move, even if it was super effective, and was blaming the pokémon for it?

"Have you considered the possibility that _you're _a weak trainer?" I asked him.

He shot me a dirty look and his face contorted with rage, "You son of a bitch! You'll pay for that!"

He grabbed 3 pokéballs from his belt and threw them all out simultaneously. From them emerged a sandslash, a machop and what appeared to be a muk, but was extremely colorful and vibrant.

"Nice work, Crobat, return!" I recalled Crobat back to its pokéball while taking out another.

"Let's end this, Steelix."

Steelix appeared in a flash of light behind me, towering over the man's pokémon, terrifying them.

"Well, don't just stand there, attack it!" he cried out in a panicky voice.

His pokémon reluctantly charged towards Steelix. I shook my head and sighed before saying, "Steelix, use Earthquake."

Steelix roared and it drove its tail into the ground, causing huge tremors and cracks to appear in the ground. There was utter chaos among the opposing three pokémon, as they were thrown off balance and into each other by the attack. Muk was affected the most. It crashed into Machop and took itself down with it. Only Sandslash remained standing after the tremors stopped, but it was in no condition to attack Steelix, that, of course, didn't stop our resident asshole from ordering it to anyway.

Sandslash moved slowly, too slowly, as it trudged towards Steelix to try and hit it. I shook my head once again and looked at the man dead in his eyes before giving one final command.

"Hyper Beam."

Steelix began to charge up the energy beam, causing Sandslash to stop dead in its tracks. Now that it had moved closer to us I could see that it had faint bruises all over its body

'_Similar to the one this Pikachu has' _I thought looking down at the still unconscious pokémon. I began to see red again when I heard the man's voice again.

"DID I SAY YOU COULD STOP?! USE MAGNITUDE OR SAND TOMB!" he shouted.

The sandslash glanced back fearfully at its trainer before staggering back to its feet to prepare to attack, but it was too late.

"Let 'er rip, Steelix."

Steelix fired the beam of energy. Sandslash instinctively shielded itself with its arms, but that wasn't necessary. The Hyper Beam shot over it, directly towards its trainer.

* * *

**AN: We stan a badass pokémon doctor-in-training. Anyway, I want to address something clearly. **_**Ash will not be traveling with Misty and Brock in this story. They will reunite, but will not travel together.**_

**I'm sorry if that disappoints some people, but that's just the way this story is gonna play out. I hope those of you who were hoping for that stick around regardless.  
As always, thanks for reading, and please leave a review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Brock**

The Hyper Beam shot towards the dipshit.

"STOP, NOO!" he cried out in vain. He raised his arms in a pathetic attempt to shield himself.

_BOOM_

The explosion rocked the terrain as the beam made contact with the ground behind the trainer, missing him by an inch. He stood frozen with shock for a moment and then passed out.

"Brock… that was…" Misty began but trailed off before finishing. Honestly, I couldn't blame her. That _was_ pretty violent, especially for me. That being said, that man, if you could even call him that, deserved it. I looked down at the unconscious pikachu in my arms. I tried to treat some of its wounds, but there was only so much I could do. I looked back towards the battered battlefield and saw his pokémon making feeble efforts to get back up. I walked over to the Sandslash to inspect it, hoping I had imagined what I saw earlier. However, my fears were confirmed when I saw the injuries it had sustained. Apart from injuries from the battle just now, it had other scars and bruises. With a jolt, I realized something else. There also seemed to be other fading battle wounds, meaning that not only did this guy physically abuse his pokémon, but he also didn't even give them proper medical attention after battles. I suppose that explains how he managed to get away with it without nurses at Pokémon Centers noticing. My blood began to boil again. I looked back at his unconscious body wondering if I should have let the Hyper Beam hit him after all. Misty must have caught on to my thoughts.

"Brock, what matters is that we saved these pokémon from him. We can turn him into the police at the next town," she said calmly.

I took a deep breath. She was right. I walked over to his lifeless mass and fished out his pokéballs. After a bit of trial and error, I managed to return each pokémon to its respective ball and then the three of us turned to face him.

"So… what do we do with him?" Ritchie asked.

"How long is he gonna stay unconscious? I don't wanna babysit this asshole all night!" Misty exclaimed.

I looked up at the reddening sky. At this rate, it looked like we might have to sit here all night after all. Before I told her that though, I was struck with an idea.

"Hey, Ritchie, how long will it take to reach Santalune City?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh, give me a sec," he pulled out his navigator and after typing a bit he responded, "Well if we abandon this guy, it shouldn't take more than ten minutes."

"Misty, how about we use Ralts' Confusion attack to levitate him till Santalune City?" I turned to her and asked.

"Hey, that's a pretty good idea!" she grabbed a pokéball from her bag and threw it into the air. In a flash of light, Ralts appeared in front of us. Misty bent down and explained the situation to him. Ralts expressed obvious dislike about having to do this but complied with our request. He turned towards the trainer and surrounded him with a blue aura as he hoisted him into the air. Misty picked Ralts up and led the way to Santalune City with a body floating right in front of her.

**Misty**

I can't recall the last time I had seen Brock that violent. He had always maintained a happy, go-lucky kind of attitude. I mean, sure, he had moments when he was serious and brooding, but such intense anger was something completely out of the blue. Hell, he hadn't even attempted to make a move on Santalune's Officer Jenny yet! It had been almost twenty minutes since we arrived at the police station and not even _one_ confession of his eternal feelings for her. That's gotta be a record for him. After Jenny wrapped up her interrogation, she thanked us and told us to leave the rest to her. Ritchie and I made to leave, but Brock didn't move.

"Officer, what's gonna happen to the pokémon?" he asked.

"Normally with cases like these, if they're native to the region, we release them back into the wild, and if they aren't, we send them over to Professor Sycamore and he handles it from there. If the pokémon is really strong, then we'll attempt to rehabilitate it so it can help out on the police force," she responded.

"What if someone else wants to take the pokémon in instead?" Brock said.

"It doesn't happen often, and we have to perform an extensive background check about the trainer in question," she replied, perplexed, "Why do you ask?"

"His pikachu… it seemed like he caught it fairly recently. It's probably scared out of its wits right now, more so than the others since it hasn't even fully evolved yet. I want to be able to help it move past its trauma. I feel like doing that would help it more than just releasing it into the wild, where it will live out its life in fear of humans," he responded.

I stared at him in awe. Brock had always been caring and sincere, especially when it came to pokémon, but I hadn't realized how much he had matured. I suppose that just goes to show how far he had progressed during his travels in Hoenn and Sinnoh; there was now a fire in his eyes, one I'd always associated with someone else. Officer Jenny seemed to notice his resolve too.

"You two," she said to me and Ritchie, "Thank you for your help. I'll have to keep your friend here a bit longer so that I can note down his details. You should head to the Pokémon Center and take some rest."

We nodded silently and we left the station. We walked in silence towards the Center until Ritchie finally broke it.

"That was something, huh?" he asked.

"Pikachu!" Sparky nodded.

"I'd never seen that side of him before today…" I muttered, "It was pretty scary, to be honest."

"It really was," he shuddered, "But it was also so cool! The way he was all like, 'Let 'er rip, Steelix,' and how just stood there unfazed by the explosion!"

"Brock? Cool? Ha! That's a first," I chuckled.

"He was cooler than you, at least," he retorted, "What was up with that? 'B-Bug!'" he exclaimed, imitating me.

Blood rushed to my face out of embarrassment and anger, "Oh, come on! Did you _see_ that thing? It was so damn creepy! How was I _not_ supposed to be scared?" I said defensively.

"That 'thing' is a pokémon," he said rolling his eyes, "and I thought it was pretty damn cool!" he added.

"Well, _excuse_ me for not for having poor taste," I snapped back.

Ritchie opened his mouth to reply but apparently decided that it would be useless and settled with rolling his eyes as we walked into the Pokémon Center. I glanced at the time on a nearby clock and saw that it was 7 p.m.

"Hey, Ritchie, it's not that late. Why don't we train for the gym battle for a while?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me," he responded. Sparky nodded eagerly as well; he's probably itching for a battle too after missing out on the action earlier. I patted his head and headed out to the battlefield.

**Ritchie **

"Sparky, use Iron Tail!" I shouted.

"PikaaCHU!" Sparky responded. His tail glowed white and he raced towards Leafeon. He leaped into the air and whipped his tail at the verdant pokémon.

"Dig, Leafeon!" Misty retaliated. Leafeon purred in response. Just as Sparky was about to make contact, Leafeon dug a hole into the ground and jumped into it, avoiding the Iron Tail by an inch. Sparky came to a screeching halt and he began to look around in confusion.

"Don't let your guard down, Sparky! It could come up from anywhere," I said. I glanced at Misty, trying to read her smug grin for a clue, but no such luck.

"Now, Leafeon!" Misty exclaimed.

"Jump, Sparky!" I cried. Sparky leaped into the air. Now, it was my turn to be smug. As soon as Leafeon emerged from the ground, Sparky would hit it with a full-powered Thunderbolt. Except-

"Sparky, behind you!"

Leafeon emerged from the ground at the corner of the battlefield, instead of directly beneath Sparky as I'd expected. I tried to warn him, but it was too late.

"Leafeon, use Razor Leaf!" Misty commanded triumphantly.

"Leafeon!" it responded. It somersaulted in the air and sent a barrage of blade-like leaves towards Sparky.

"Sparky!" I cried out in vain.

Sparky took the full brunt of the Razor Leaf attack, which sent him plummeting back to the ground, but after the dust settled, I saw that he wasn't knocked out yet.

"Alright!" I sighed in relief, "Can you keep going?"

"Pikachu!" Sparky nodded reassuringly.

"Great! Use Elec-," I began but stopped halfway through the command when I saw Nurse Joy running up to us, looking quite disheveled.

"Uh, is there something wrong?" I asked uncertainly.

"Your egg," she panted, "It's hatching… you have to… first one it sees…"

In a flash, I raced back inside the Pokémon Center and ran up to Nurse Joy's desk, where her Wigglytuff was freaking out. It was holding the egg while looking around and panicking. I dashed up to it and snatched the egg from it, just as it started wobbling violently. Then, a bright light began emanating from the egg, attracting the attention of many people. After a few seconds, the light began to fade away and in the place where I had been holding the egg, there was now a golden pokémon. It opened its eyes slowly, as if it had just woken up from a nap. After it opened them fully, it looked at me and tilted its head in confusion. After it stared for a few seconds, it closed its eyes again and smiled.

"Charmander, Char!" it said softly.

Misty(who had followed me inside) and Sparky both gasped when they saw the newest addition to our party, as did many of the other trainers in the pokémon center.

"Oh my, it appears that your Charmander is a shiny pokémon!" Nurse Joy exclaimed.

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! Sorry about the long gap between chapters, but at least for the next couple of months, updates will go back to normal. As always, thanks for reading! Leave a review if you liked it or have any constructive feedback, and if you **_**reallllly **_**liked it, maybe even follow/fav? Thanks again! **

_**To be continued…**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Brock**

I was completely worn out and just itching to get into a nice, warm bed. Officer Jenny had finally let me go after informing me that it would take a few days to verify my 'credentials', so I was to remain in Santalune City until then. I hoped that Ritchie and Misty wouldn't have a problem with it as I made my way to the Pokémon Center. As I neared the building, I looked through the glass doors and saw that there was an unusually large crowd near the front desk. I entered the building, wondering what the commotion was, and I saw that Ritchie was trapped right in the middle of the crowd

"Ritchie? What's going on?" I called out to him.

"Brock? Thank Arceus! Hey, Brock, catch!" he answered as he threw what appeared to be a pokéball at me.

"Wha-? Wait!" I cried out. Unfortunately, Ritchie seems to have no sense of precision since the ball sailed well over 4 feet above my head. I cursed as I scrambled for the ball, catching it just before it hit the ground.

"I got it!" I yelled. Then I looked down and saw that Ritchie had also thrown a key to one of the rooms of the Center. I turned around in confusion. Why had he thrown-? Oh.

The crowd that had been surrounding Richie was now rushing towards me like a mob.

"RUN!" he cried out and bolted for the stairs. There was no need to tell me twice. With the last ounce of my energy, I raced after Ritchie.

We slammed the door shut in the nick of time and locked it. The mob began hammering on the door saying things like, 'Name your price!' and 'I'll do anything!'  
Ritchie and I held the door shut just for good measure until the ruckus subsided. We finally relaxed when the last person's hysterical sobs faded way. We slumped to the ground with our backs to the door.

"Thanks, Brock. I owe ya one." Ritchie sighed.

"No kidding," I replied irritably, "Are you going to tell me what that was all about now?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Come on out!" he rolled the pokéball across the floor. It bumped the opposite wall and opened with a flash of light. The light faded, revealing a… golden charmander?

"A shiny charmander!" I gasped, "Is this Zippo's…?"

"Yep," he grinned, "Come on over and say hi to Brock, Charlie!"

Charlie walked towards me cautiously, glancing at Ritchie repeatedly for reassurance. I smiled at the young pokémon and beckoned him over.

"I won't bite," I said gently, as I stretched my hand out towards him. At this, Charlie seemed to decide that I was trustworthy and approached me. I began scratching his chin with my outstretched hand, much to his delight.

"Charmander!" he cried out excitedly.

"It's nice to meet you too, Charlie," I responded.

"That was fast," Ritchie said, perplexed.

I shrugged nonchalantly, "I just seem to have a way with pokémon."

"Too bad you don't have a way with women as well," Ritchie snickered.

Ouch.

"That was a low blow, man," I said sulkily, "By the way, where are Misty and Sparky?"

As if on cue, we heard a knock on the door.

* * *

**Misty**

So, Sparky and I may or may not have left Ritchie to fend for himself down there. Oops.

"I'm sure he'll forgive us, right?" I asked Sparky while we were making our way to his room.

"Pika pi!" Sparky said with fake confidence.

I sighed and knocked on the door, bracing myself for the worst. After a few moments, the door flew open and in the doorway stood a very, very annoyed Ritchie.

"Do the two of you have something to say for yourselves?" he said menacingly. His voice seemed to have dropped two octaves. He crossed his arms as his face darkened. I felt a chill go down my spine and Sparky shuddered in fear.

"Um… I… uh-," I mumbled uselessly, feeling heat rush to my face.

"What's that? Sorry, I didn't quite catch it," he said. I swallowed and moved my eyes around helplessly. I saw Brock inside the room sitting next to Ritchie's charmander.

"B-Brock! A little help here?" I pleaded.

Brock and the charmander turned their backs to us and began talking to each other.

"Nice weather we're having today," Brock said, sipping a cup of tea.

"Char," the pokémon nodded seriously as he took a cup from his cup.

"Could you speak up? You're kinda mumbling," Ritchie said. I tried to stare him down for a few moments which was a bit hard, considering that his eyes were covered by his cap. After another minute or so of this silence, I finally gave in.

"Fine. I'm sorry," I muttered.

"Hm? What did you-?"

"Do you need an ear examination?" I yelled, "I said, SORRY!"

Ritchie smirked and lifted his head.

"Did you get that, Brock?" he asked.

"Loud and clear," Brock responded, holding up Ritchie's smartphone-navigator thing, "I still can't believe you got her to apologize."

"Huh? G-get what?" I asked.

Ritchie took the device from Brock and tapped on the screen.

"_Do you need an ear examination? I said, SORRY!" _ my own voice rang out, just like Brock had said; loud and clear.

"Traitor!" I shouted at Brock.

He grinned in response and gave Ritchie a high five. I'm_ so_ going to get them back for this. I gave them both the stink eye and turned around to leave the room when Brock called out to me.

"Hang on a second, there's something I have to tell you guys," he said.

* * *

**Ritchie**

Brock began to explain to us that he had to remain in Santalune City for a while so he could stay in contact with Officer Jenny about the Pikachu.

"Does that mean you got her number, then?" I asked.

"Of cour-," he stopped abruptly. Realization dawned on his face and he sunk to the floor in despair.

"Two hours and I didn't even get her number!" he sobbed.

"Ha! Serves you right," Misty told his weeping form. She continued, "Anyway, I don't really mind having to stay a bit longer. What about you?"

"No problems here. In fact, I was planning on visiting a nearby town, so this kinda works out for me," I said.

Misty gave me a confused look; Brock a knowing smirk. I ignored him and told Misty about my hometown being in Vaniville Town, which was pretty close by. After I finished, Misty was still staring at me awkwardly.

"Uh…"

"Huh? Oh, sorry. I thought you had more to say," she stammered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I just thought that...um, nevermind," she said, "Is it okay if I tag along?"

It was now my turn to be confused, "Why?" I asked.

"Well, the first gym is a bug type gym, and something tells me that a grass type and a psychic type aren't exactly the best options to take it on," she responded.

I looked at her for a moment and then shrugged nonchalantly. It didn't really matter to me if she accompanied me or not. Suddenly, I felt something tugging at my pant leg. I looked down and saw Charlie looking up at me.

"Charmander char?" he seemed to be asking me if he was going to come along too. I smiled at him and picked him up.

"Of course I'll take you along, Charlie. You don't ever have to worry about that." I reassured him.

"Char!" he cried out happily. I looked at him fondly. He reminded me so much of-

_Zippo._

It felt like a kick to the gut; before I knew it, my throat had tightened. I was holding back tears, barely stopping myself from becoming a sobbing mess.

"Char?" the pokémon looked at me perplexed.

"It's nothing. I think it's about time for you to sleep, don't you think?" I croaked. I smiled once again and tapped his head with a pokéball, sending it back inside. I took a deep breath to stabilize myself before I spoke again.

"We'll leave tomorrow morning. Don't be late," I said, my back facing Misty, "Goodnight."

"N-night," Misty responded. I heard the sounds of her footsteps walking towards the door. She stopped for a moment, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw her exchange a look with Brock before she left the room. I looked down at my bed and saw Sparky looking at me, concerned. I ruffled his fur and sighed. Today had been a long day.

* * *

**AN: So this was a little later than expected. I was originally planning on having Misty and Ritchie set out for Vaniville in this chapter but decided against it since the chapter felt a bit too cluttered already, hence the delay. Sorry about that. On the bright side, the next chapter should be up sooner. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Brock**

It had been around half an hour since Misty and Ritchie left for Vaniville Town. I slowly made my way to the police station, determined to take Officer Jenny's phone number today. I entered the police station and saw her munching on some donuts at her desk; she hadn't seen me yet. She opened her mouth wide to take another bite when she saw me. We stared at each other awkwardly for a few moments. A light blush crept to her face as she snapped to attention, hurriedly shoving the box of donuts into a drawer. She cleared her throat and spoke:

"What's the matter, Brock? I thought I told you to wait a few days?"

Pretending that didn't happen, are we? Two can play that game.

"Oh, I just thought it might be more convenient for us if knew how to contact each other," I responded coolly.

She thought about it for a few seconds and then took out a paper slip and wrote something down on it.

"Here you go," she said, handing me the paper, "Now, if that's all, I would appreciate it if you left. I'm a busy woman."

I nodded and turned to leave, but not before I said one last thing:

"I make a pretty mean jelly-filled donut, you know?"

I rushed out, leaving her to blush furiously. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until I looked at the paper with her number on it.

_Santalune City Police Department: 101_

"Oh, come on!" I yelled, causing other pedestrians to stare. I hung my head started walking back to the pokémon center, hoping that Nurse Joy could heal this broken heart of mine when I overheard a conversation.

"… the forecast for today said that there would be a massive storm. I do hope it dies out by the evening…"

* * *

**Misty **

I picked up the pokéball with my newly caught pokémon inside it.

"Thanks for the help, Ralts!" I said

"Ral!" he nodded solemnly. I returned Ralts to his pokéball and sent out my newest party member. In a flash of light, the pokémon appeared and began chirping excitedly. I bent down to it and said, "It's nice to meet you, Pidgey! I'm Misty, your new trainer. I hope we get along."

I held my hand out to it as a gesture of friendship. After a moment, the pidgey shook my hand with its wing. I grinned in response and returned it to its pokéball.

"How much further do we have left, Ritchie?" I asked, looking up towards him. He was standing in front of me, lost in thought.

We had passed through Aquacorde town and were now at Route 1.

"Um, hello," I asked walking up to him, "Earth to Ritchie?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, we're pretty close. It's just at the end of this route," he said. He wasn't looking me in the eye. I sighed. He had been doing this ever since we set out today morning.

"Ritchie, if it's that uncomfortable, I can go back and wait for you in Aquacorde Town," I told him.

"That's not it," he responded, still avoiding my gaze, "It's something else. It doesn't matter."

"Is this about Zippo?"

He froze.

"Pi pikachu…" Sparky said sadly.

"I know, buddy, it just hasn't been that easy letting go," he sighed. I stared at him for a while before I spoke again.

"I know how you feel," I said, "It isn't easy to let go of a partner who has been with you for so long. You don't have to hide how you feel, Ritchie."

He didn't respond. I continued speaking, "After I let Togetic go, I cried myself to sleep for days. It came to the point where I had to shut the gym down for a day because I was such a mess. But the thing is, I felt much better after I had let my emotions out. If I had tried to go on, pretending that everything was still fine, then I would never have been able to raize the azurill that Tracy gave to me without being reminded of Togepi. I know it's hard to come to terms with, but the more you bottle it up, the worse the feeling becomes. So please, just let it all out. I won't judge you."

Finally, he turned around to look at me. His eyes were brimming with tears as they began to flow down his face. He dropped to his knees and began to cry.

"I just don't know if I can do it," he managed to choke out between sobs, "What if I screw up? What if Charlie leaves too? I don't know if I could take it."

I walked up to him, bent down and hugged him.

"You don't need to worry about that. Brock and I will be with you to help you out." I reassured him.

"Pikachu!" Sparky cried from his shoulder, licking away one of Ritchie's tears.

"You too, Sparky," I smiled, "So don't worry about screwing up. If you do, we'll be sure to whip you back into shape."

Sparky nodded fiercely in response. Ritchie chuckled. We stayed like that for a few more minutes, my arms around him and his head buried into my shoulder. Finally, he pulled away.

"Thanks, Misty," he said softly.

"You're welcome," I said, "Now, about that recording…"

He laughed and took out his navigator. He opened the recording of my voice and showed it to me. He tapped the trash can icon and deleted it.

"Does that make us even?" he grinned.

"Hmm… I'll think about it," I responded. I stood up and grabbed Ritchie's cap off his head, putting it on my own. I held out my hand to him.

"Shall we proceed?" I asked.

He stared at me for a moment, as if he wanted to say something but shook his head.

"Yeah."

He grabbed my arm and I pulled him up on his feet. We stood there for a few seconds, staring at each other until we realized that we were still holding onto each other.

"We should -" he stuttered, quickly letting go. His face had started going red with embarrassment

"Yeah," I responded. I felt the heat rising to my face and I was sure that we both looked like tomatoes.

"Oh, and my cap-"

"Yep."

In a few minutes, we entered Vaniville Town. It was a small town with a few houses and a stone path running through it. It was pretty reminiscent of Pallet Town. Ritchie took a deep breath and smiled

"This place hasn't changed much at all," he said, still smiling serenely.

Small towns like this rarely ever do. The only new additions to Pallet Town were the pokémon Ash caught on his journey. I told Ritchie as much and he shrugged.

"I suppose you're right, but even so, it feels a bit strange."

"So… when do I get to meet this Serena?" I asked.

"How do you know about that?" Ritchie asked in return.

"I may or may not have overheard you talking to Brock the other night," I said sheepishly. He sighed in relief.

"That saves me the trouble of explaining that to you then," he said, "To answer your question, you'll meet her pretty soon, assuming that she's in town right now."

We walked down the path past a few houses until we turned around a corner. Ritchie stopped abruptly in front of a gate to one of the houses. I looked over his shoulder and saw that this house was pretty similar to all the other houses we passed, except for one feature. There seemed to be a kennel in the front yard inside which a pokémon was sleeping. It was a rhyhorn. I stared at it in bewilderment for a few seconds then turned to Ritchie in confusion.

" used to be a Rhyhorn racer," he explained.

"That's a thing?"

"Yep. Ms. Yvonne was one of the best,"

Rhyhorn racing? That sounded really amazing. I shuddered at the thought of trying to race atop a rhyhorn. You'd have to have nerves of steel to do that. I looked at Ritchie and saw that he was staring at the front yard wistfully.

"Is everything alright?" I asked. I half thought that he might break down again.

Instead he looked back and smiled. It wasn't fake or forced. His eyes lit up and the worry dissipated from his face as he spoke.

"Everything's alright. I promise."

His smile just then glowed with the warmth of a thousand fires. It was as though he was saying-

"Thanks to you."

I found myself blushing for the second time that day as he turned forward to open the gate.

* * *

**Ritchie**

I took a deep breath and pushed open the gate. As I did so, I was hit by a wave of nostalgia. I half expected Rhyhorn to tackle me to the ground to greet me. No such luck. Instead, Rhyhorn woke from its slumber and stared at us menacingly as we approached the front door. I waved at it nervously hoping it would recognize me, but that only seemed to make it more suspicious. I sighed and rang the doorbell.

"I'm coming!" yelled a voice from inside. When I heard Ms. Yvonne's voice, panic shot through my body. My legs turned to jelly and yet I wanted to run away as fast as possible.I turned back and saw Misty still staring at me apprehensively. I steeled myself. I couldn't run after promising her that I was alright. I shook off the feeling and turned to the door. Within a few seconds, it opened.

"How can I help-," Ms. Yvonne started but stopped abruptly. She looked me up and down as recognition crept into her face. Finally, she spoke.

"Ritchie?" she asked, hardly speaking louder than a whisper.

"H-hey, Ms. Yvonne. How've you been?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly.

Before I knew what was happening, she wrapped me in a warm embrace. After she pulled away she held my shoulders and sized me up again.

"My goodness, look at you! You've grown so much!" she exclaimed, "Come inside, we must catch up."

She looked behind me and saw Misty standing there awkwardly.

"Hello! You are?" she asked cheerfully.

"I'm Misty from the Kanto region. I'm traveling through Kalos with Ritchie," she responded.

"It's nice to meet you, Misty! Now come on in, I just finished making lunch.

...

We had a hearty meal courtesy of Ms. Yvonne and soon got to talking. Misty went first and talked about what brought her to the Kalos region, namely the Water Pokémon League. After Misty finished, Ms. Yvonne turned to me and stared expectantly.

"I suppose you're here for the Lumiose Conference then, Ritchie?" she said to me.

I nodded and took a sip of water. I put down the glass and finally got around to asking the question that had been eating away at me.

"So, Ms. Yvonne, where's Serena?"

"I was wondering when you'd get around to that," she responded, smiling, "Serena left on her own journey about a month ago."

A month ago?! I was in shock. Serena and I had planned on setting out on our journey the day we turned 10! Why had she waited five whole years?

Ms. Yvonne must have noticed how jarred I was cause she spoke again to explain

"I had tried to coax her into leaving many times over the years, but nothing seemed to work. I think she was just scared at the thought of traveling alone," she said, "That all changed a month ago, though. She saw this boy on the news who she recognized from that time I sent her to the summer camp in Pallet Town. She got lost and injured in the woods and he 'rescued' her. She left on her journey in the hopes that she could meet him again and travel with him."

Ms. Yvonne chuckled and spoke again, mostly to herself.

"That Ash… she seemed to have quite the crush on him,"

"Ash?!" Misty blurted out. I couldn't blame her, to be honest. Although, if you think about it, it does make sense that it was Ash. Pallet Town was where he lived, after all.

"Do you know him?" Ms. Yvonne seemed surprised too.

"He's a friend of ours," I said, "Well, my rival technically. He and Misty are pretty good friends though,"

"Is that so?" she turned to Misty, "Could you please tell me more about him?"

"W-what do you mean?" Misty responded. Already a blush started creeping into her cheeks.

"Well, my daughter has a crush on him! I need to know what kind of person he is, don't I?" she replied almost indignantly.

I could hear warning bells go off in my head. I tried to signal Ms. Yvonne to drop the subject, but she didn't notice; that or she didn't care. She could be pretty stubborn about things when it came to Serena. I mentally braced myself for Misty's imminent explosion and saw that on my shoulder, Sparky had stuck his fingers in his ears.

We waited and waited for what felt like eons. But the explosion never came. Instead, when Misty spoke her voice was calm and composed, "Ash is a great person, Ms. Yvonne. He'd never hurt your daughter."

She smiled fondly, but there was something else. I could see sadness hidden in her eyes.

"Not intentionally, at least."

Misty's voice broke and she found herself unable to hold back her tears. I reached out to her, but Ms Yvonne got there first. She helped Misty out of the living room, presumably guiding her to the bathroom, leaving me to stare at the potted flowers on the glass table in front of us. They were beautiful. It was a pentamerous flower with petals as white as the snowcapped mountains of Sinnoh. But the more I stared at them, the more I felt like I had seen these flowers somewhere before. My train of thought was interrupted by Ms. Yvonne, who had just walked back into the room.

"Guess that was a touchy subject, huh?" she sighed.

I nodded mutely. It's not like I could have said anything else; Misty's tears said it all. I turned my gaze up from the flowers to the window and saw that the clouds had begun to darken.

"Is it going to rain?" I asked.

"Didn't you hear? There was a huge storm forecast for today," she said. She paused for a few moments before speaking again, "Yes, I believe it would be better for you two to stay the night here. It's far too dangerous to go anywhere in this weather."

...

After making a phone call to the Santalune City Pokémon Center to inform Brock of our predicament, I returned to the kitchen where Grace(she had _insisted_ that we called her that) was preparing dinner.

"Sorry for the trouble, Grace," I said awkwardly.

"It's no trouble, really," she responded kindly, "I daresay that it's nice to have company for once."

I snickered and nodded before speaking again, "Is Misty alright?"

"Would you like to talk to her? She's in Serena's room," Grace answered.

I nodded once again and headed for the staircase.

"I do trust that you know your way," Grace called out, not looking away from the stove.

I decided to not respond to that. I made my way to Serena's room and knocked on the door.

"Misty, can I come in?" I asked.

"Yeah."

I opened the door and saw Misty sitting on the bed, staring out of the window as the rain came crasing down. I noticed that there was something different about her; she had let her hair down. It may have seemed normal enough to someone else, but I had never seen Misty without her iconic ponytail.

"I suppose I don't have to ask if everything's alright," I said, approaching her.

She managed a small smile at that. She stared out the window for a few more seconds before she spoke again, "I didn't think I still felt so strongly about all of that… about _him_."

I sat next to her and rested a hand on her shoulder, "It's not easy to move on from someone you feel so strongly about. You just have to keep living your life and hope for the best."

"I know… the problem is, I don't know how long I can keep that up," she said sadly

"As you said to me, you're not alone in this. You'll always have Brock and me right next to you when it gets tough," I said, gripping her shoulder firmly, "I mean, you're Misty Waterflower! If you can run a gym all by yourself for nearly 4 years, then forgetting about a _boy_ should be a piece of cake, right?"

At that, she began to laugh. It was different from her usual scathing and mocking laughter. For a second, she looked like any other teenage girl, laughing at a joke someone told her. It didn't seem like she had cried her eyes out mere hours before. When she stopped, I stood up and held my hand out to her.

"I think it's about time we eat. What do you think?"

"I think this makes us even," she said grasping my hand tightly.

* * *

**Serena**

_Later that night_

"_Hey, you've brought me all the way out here. Now will you show me what you're hiding?" I asked adamantly. He had brought me all the way out to the Santalune Forest, saying that he something really important to show me. I was starting to get pretty annoyed._

"_Here you go," he said with a mischievous grin and produced a pot of white flowers from behind his back(how did he hide that?!) and handed it to me. They were beautiful, unlike any I'd ever seen._

"_Wh-where did you-?" I stammered. He continued to grin and scratched the back of his head._

"_It's a souvenir from our vacation to Sinnoh! I saw them and thought that you might like them," he said eagerly._

"_I love them! Thank you so much, Ritchie!" I squealed. I couldn't wait to show mom these._

_Ritchie blushed. Despite his embarrassment, he seemed quite pleased with himself. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but he had disappeared. _

"_Ritchie?" I called out, "Where are you?"_

_Suddenly the forest went ablaze. All the pokémon in the woods were rushing around in a panic, trying to escape from something. I started calling out louder, my voice growing hoarser by the minute. Then, without any warning, all the pokémon disappeared. I was standing alone in the burning forest. I turned around and saw him. Ritchie was there, but he was sprawled out face down on the grass. There was blood under him._

_I shrieked and dropped the pot I was holding. It fell to the ground and shattered, but I didn't care. I rushed to Ritchie's side and turned him over. I saw that he was bleeding from his gut._

"_Ritchie?! How did this happen?" I began to cry hysterically._

_He ignored me and said, "Serena… I love you."_

_Suddenly my mind was flooded by a whirlwind of images. More images of the fire, the shattered pot, a gun, and two giant figures; pokémon?_

I jolted up in my bed. My entire body was sweating as though there has actually been a fire. I looked down at my trembling hands and muttered, "What the_ hell_ was that?"

* * *

**AN: Whew, that was a long chapter. It was necessary though since the story is about to speed up real soon. I'd like to say in advance that I will be skipping a lot of pokémon training and routes unless they help in progressing the story or are necessary world-building(Catching new pokémon, evolution, meeting rivals, etc.) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you guys in the next one.**


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